The Scoop
The White House played a central role in the Justice Department’s antitrust investigation into major TV networks’ temporary suspension of pooled coverage of the president, three people familiar with the matter told Semafor.
While the probe is progressing, some inside the DOJ are concerned about its legal merits. Two former DOJ officials said that the networks suspending their pool participation after three news outlets got barred from the White House are likely protected by the First Amendment — one cited a 1982 Supreme Court ruling that afforded those constitutional protections to group boycotts for political purposes.
Two of the people familiar with the matter suggested that the idea of an antitrust inquiry was first discussed inside the White House, which ultimately pushed for it from the DOJ. A third described the White House-DOJ interplay as a “distinction [without] a difference,” given how closely the two are intertwined under President Donald Trump’s administration.
A DOJ official disputed that the White House first raised the idea of a probe, saying that “seasoned attorneys within the Justice Department, including the antitrust division, first discussed this.” The official added that any requests for information from networks which may have been sent were written “because there is sound legal footing to investigate.”
In addition to the longstanding Trump-era blur between the DOJ and White House, the department’s antitrust division has close ties to presidential priorities. Sara Matar, formerly the division’s chief of staff, joined the White House counsel’s office in August as an associate.
Notably, Laura Loomer — a staunch MAGA ally whose outside influence has occasionally resulted in changes within the White House — tweeted last month wondering why the DOJ hadn’t “filed an antitrust lawsuit” against outlets that “colluded to refuse to cover” Trump.
Loomer attacked Woodward in her post; the following week, she traveled with Trump to Alabama, though it’s unclear whether she raised the issue with the president personally during that trip.
The White House referred Semafor to the DOJ in response to a request for comment.
Know More
The Trump administration has long argued that the Justice Department is not wholly separate from the White House, counter to the norms that took root after the Nixon era. At Semafor’s World Economy Summit in April, Attorney General Todd Blanche indicated that it is Trump’s “right” to suggest targets for investigation — a stance he has echoed repeatedly since settling into his role at the top of the department.
“Certainly if the leader of the Free World learns about something or hears about something or wants us to focus on something, a certain area, that is, of course, what every Department of Justice has done,” Blanche told Semafor at the time.
“This idea that President Trump has some sort of outsized control because of things that he says, that that’s absolutely his right and his duty to do that,” Blanche added.
Notable
- Legal experts view the antitrust probe as a potential rationale for the DOJ to secure internal records from TV networks, Axios reported.